SQL Server Documentation Generator Tool [closed]

Question

I'm working on a large SQL Server database with no documentation. Is there a good, preferably free, documentation generator tool I can use to get my head around it.

Answer 1

One tool that I'm using more and more to do this sort of thing is LinqPad (www.linqpad.net). This is far more than just a Linq tool. It is very good at allowing you to drill down through table relationships, as long as FK's are properly in place. This tool is free.

On the non-free side, we also use Red-Gates SQL Doc (http://www.red-gate.com/products/sql-development/sql-doc/). Excellent tool.

Answer 2

You might want to have a look at my new (non-free, sorry) tool - LiveDoco - it's a web app that can be installed on an intranet IIS or even on a local IIS server and then you can just use your favorite browser to connect to a SQL Server database and see its structure/metadata, edit object descriptions or even search in DB object names (tables, columns, functions and their parameters etc.) and in the extended properties where the descriptions are usually stored (under “MS_Description”). And finally there is an export feature you can use to export all extended properties to a SQL file that you can run on a different DB of the same/similar structure to import/update your descriptions/notes there.

There is a fully functional (but read-only) online demo at http://www.livedoco.com. This link will take you directly to the Person.Contact.ContactID column in the AdventureWorks sample DB from MS: http://demo.livedoco.com/livedoco/Explorer?Server=(local)%5Csql2k8xpress&Database=AdventureWorks#/?L0Name=Person&L1Name=Contact&L2Name=COLUMN_ContactID